Stephen Jay Gould

Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes

"Lively and fascinating. . . . [Gould] writes beautifully about science and the wonders of nature."—Tracy Kidder

Over a century after Darwin published the Origin of Species, Darwinian theory is in a "vibrantly healthy state," writes Stephen Jay Gould, its most engaging and illuminating exponent. Exploring the "peculiar and mysterious particulars of nature," Gould introduces the reader to some of the many and wonderful manifestations of evolutionary biology.

"As witty as he is learned, Gould has a born essayist's ability to evoke the general out of fascinating particulars. . . . He is a thinker and writer as central to our times as any whose name comes to mind. . . . Whether he is explaining how zebras get their stripes, [or] why it is fallacious to assume that extinction means biological 'failure' . . . Gould's passion for truth an generosity of spirit make him one of nature's true wonders."—Gene Lyons, Newsweek

"Delectable. . . . A happy evolutionary tour de force. Gould is a true natural philosopher in the grand tradition of the Enlightenment. Read, learn, and enjoy."—Washington Post Book World